A Christmas Memory
by cm0011
Summary: A short one-shot fic, during Christmas day of OOTP. Sirius and Remus give Harry a comforting hand when he's feeling down. A look on Harry's definition of family, and an dive into Christmas during Harry's toddler days. Comfort story :D


**A/N**: This is a small one-shot that came to me, and I thought I'd give it a chance :) I've always loved Sirius and Remus as characters, caring about Harry as much as his father did. This is just a little one- chapter fic which explores a little bit of the Marauder friendship, as well as their care for Harry. This is supposed to take place in OOTP, Christmas Day, at 12 Grimmauld Place. It's canon, pretty much, there might be some bits that I've assumed from canon information available. Thought it was cute, hope you enjoy :)

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><p><strong>A Christmas Memory<strong>

Harry was sitting in an empty room in 12 Grimmauld Place. It was quiet in there, except for the occasional squeak of a mouse that ran by his feet. In the distance, he could hear the shrill shriek of Mrs. Black, and he heard Mrs. Weasley's harsh response to the talking photo. He chuckled. He knew Mrs. Weasley detested that picture, but there was no way to get it down. Ofcourse, even with that drasted photo, everyone seemed to be in high spirits today. It was Christmas, after all. Especially with Mr. Weasley safe and sound now, everyone was celebrating.

There was a knock at the door. "May I come in?" Harry looked up to see his godfather, Sirius, leaning against the door, a small smile on his face. Harry nodded, and Sirius walked into the room, taking a seat beside Harry on the old, dusty couch.

"Now, what are you doing stuck up in a room like this?" Sirius took a glance around, his face wrinkling at the cobwebs that hung across the ceiling.

"Just thinking, I guess," Harry said quietly.

"Penny for your thoughts, Harry?" Sirius said softly, leaning against the couch, putting his hands behind his head.

"Well," Harry sighed. "I've always spent Christmas with the Weasleys, in some way or the other. They always have this big...family dynamic, you know? Mrs. Weasley always cooking the best food, gathering her children up together. Mr. Weasley always having to pull the gifts away from Fred and George so thatr they don't open them before Christmas day. Ron scorching down Christmas pastries.." Harry chuckled. "They always seem like such a huge family. A happy family." Harry stopped for a second. "I wish I would have been able to spend a Christmas with my family...with my parents."

"Oh, Christmas was always a big event at the Potters, Harry," Sirius said, sitting back up on the couch.

Harry looked up at him. "Really?"

"Oh, yes!" He exclaimed, a foolish grin appearing on his face. "Oh I remember, Lily would always make these muggle pastries that neither me or Remus had ever tried before, but my god, were they ever delicious! The house would be decorated from top to bottom with decorations, James would always go overboard with those. Always used to be the head decorator back when his parents were around."

Harry tried to imagine a brightly lit, decorated home, where his father would be standing on a ladder, adding another stream of tinsel over a burning fireplace. Harry smiled.

"Must've been nice," Harry said

Sirius nodded. "It definitely was." He paused for a second, deliberating. "I remember, during your first Christmas, Remus got you a little wizard's hat. Your face lit up with joy, and you crawled around for half the day in your diapers, wearing that darn hat on your head." Sirius laughed. "It covered your eyes a little bit, so there was one point, when we weren't watching you, you ran into a wall. You started crying your little head off, but I came up and picked you up, bouncing you on my arm for a minute, trying to stop your shrieks, and by some wonder, you stopped crying. You just looked at me with those innocent little eyes," Sirius voice dropped to almost a whisper. "Christmas was always a blast at your place."

"He's right, you know," Harry saw Remus' head appear in the doorway. He walked in and took the seat on the other side of Harry. "Your godfather here always drank a bit too much firewhiskey, and it took both me and James to sober him down, while Lily just covered her face with her hands and laughed."

"Not true!" Sirius said, shoving his old friend by the shoulder. "Just because you always drank the one glass of butterbeer," Sirius smiled.

"I was being responsible!" Remus exclaimed, shaking his head. "That Frank Longbottom could drink a ton, I tell you."

"Alice would never let him," Sirius said, smiling. "Sometimes we would celebrate holidays with some of the Order members. During that first Christmas, Alice brought little Neville over for about an hour, the two of you played like the silliest little children ever. You tried to put your hat on his head, but he didn't rather like it," he chuckled.

"It sounds like a hell of a lot of fun," Harry said quietly. "I wish I could have been there."

He smiled, but there was a tinge of bitter-sweetness to the look. Sirius saw it in his eyes, which were not directly looking at any one of them. He turned towards Harry, putting a hand on each of his shoulders. "Your family is not only the people who are connected to you by blood, but also connected to you by the heart," Sirius looked directly into Harry's eyes. "Now, who do you love Harry?"

"Well," Harry said, thinking. "The Weasleys ofcourse. The whole lot of them. They've always treated me like family. Hermoine as well, ofcourse. Her and Ron have been my best friends. You. And Remus," he turned towards Remus, who had a warm smile on his face. "Some order members, like Tonks, Dumbledore, McGonagall...it's not the same, though."

Sirius nodded, deliberating. "Hmm...hold on," Sirius said. Harry was about to question him, when he jumped off the couch and bounded out of the room. Harry looked quizzically at Remus, but he just shrugged, apparently having no idea what he was doing either. They didn't have to wait long, however, when Sirius came back, holding an old, battered photo album, with the insignia of Gryffindor house on the cover. He sat back down in his seat, and placed the photo album in Harry's lap.

Harry wasn't sure what to do with it, so he put his hand on the cover, over the Gryffindor house crest, and opened the album. The first picture he saw brought him up short. It was a picture of Remus, Sirius, James, and Lily, all posing for a picture, their faces brightened with big smiles. They all looked younger, healthier, brighter. In Lily's arms, held a little baby boy, not more than 5 months old. He turned the page, and saw a picture of Sirius, running after a frisky toddler Harry, who was crawling across the floor. Harry smiled as he saw a dark green wizard's hat perched on his head. There was a joyous smile on little Harry's face. Another page turn. There was another boy with Harry now, who Harry guessed was young Neville. He could see that little Harry was trying to force his hat onto little Neville's head, but the look on little Neville's face said he wasn't having any of it.

"These pictures, were from your first Christmas, Harry," Sirius said softly. Remus sat silently as Harry looked at the picture, his eyes softening.

As Harry continued to turn the pages, a letter fell out of one of the pages. He picked it up, starting to open it but stopped, not knowing whether this was something Sirius would not want Harry to read. He looked towards Sirius, and as if reading his mind, Sirius nodded. He opened the letter, and began to read the letter that was written in a neat scrawl:

_Dear Sirius,_

_ What a day it's been! Harry hasn't taken off the hat that Remus got him, he's gotten a little attached to the thing. James was trying to change him, and he cried when we took the hat off his head for a minute. Tell Remus thanks, although I'm not sure how long we can go before the poor hat will have to be washed...we'll have to get him a distraction! But I think what he enjoys most are those little figurines you got him. He's just fascinated by the way they walk in whatever direction you tell them to. He can't speak yet, but yo can tell he's trying to mouth out the words "left" and "right", just like you were, in his own little baby garble. _

_ That Neville is a sweet young child. I do hope the two become friends in the future. Maybe even in the same house at Hogwarts! I think they would be good companions. Although I'm not sure if Neville will have the same rambunctious nature our little Harry has. Haha!_

_ Thanks for celebrating with us today. You know how happy it makes James when you guys are around. A little less on the firewhiskey, however! I know who to count on as mentors for Harry when he becomes older, although I will definitely warn him about your adventurous nature! Remus will hopefully be there if the two of you get out of hand. But I trust you two, as much as I trust myself or James, and I do hope you two will be a big part of his life in the future._

_ Hoping that there will be many more celebrations like this to come! _

_Love,_

_Lily_

A tear fell down Harry's cheek as he read the last sentence. They never really had the chance to have many more celebrations before they were killed.

Remus wiped the tear away from Harry's cheek with his thumb. "You may not have had many celebrations with your parents, Harry," Remus said softly. "But every celebration was one filled with love. Especially the ones where you were around. You filled their hearts with joy, Harry. They gave up their lives for you, because they loved you so much."

Sirius nodded as well. "And don't forget, you always have us, Harry. We love you, and we consider you our own family. You're my godson, for crying out loud!" Sirius looked at Harry with confident eyes. "I am are always there for you."

"_We_are always there for you," Remus said. "Remember, your mother entrusted me to keep both you and Sirius under control," Remus winked at Harry, and Harry laughed.

"Come on, let's get out of this musty room and back to the festivites!" Remus said, getting up, Harry and Sirius following. Remus patted Harry on the shoulder, giving his shoulder a squeeze. But Harry caught him off guard as he wrapped Remus in a warm hug. Remus hugged Harry back, smiled, and walked out of the room.

Harry turned around to look at Sirius. His godfather. The one who had been there for him, not only for the past few years, but since he was born. The foolish grin on Sirius' face made Harry smile too, as they both wrapped eachother in a warm hug.

He knew that they were all his family. But most of all, he knew Sirius was family. True family. And he was happy to finally have family back in his life.


End file.
